Category: Donors

Donor surprise!

28/4/2019

We got a lovely surprise this week when, out of the blue, two of our supporters set up a regular monthly donation. Regular donations are vital to allow us to make firm commitments to the people we work with in Kenya and to ensure sustainability for our projects in the longer term.

If you would like to set up a regular donation, find out how at the link below:

http://www.kipawa.org.uk/donate-here.html

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Goodbye to Kenya for another year...

5/10/2017

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Yesterday was the final full day of David's Kenya visit.

"In preparing for this trip, we launched a small appeal to fund some items for the supported nurseries such as toys, books and other equipment. Just under £500 was raised and we spent a good chunk of that in the nearest town – Thika - prior to my final visit to Mukuyu Primary School. A van full of new gear arrived with us, and we helped unload boxes into the classroom. The children were thrilled to receive their new reading books, skipping ropes, hoola-hoops and other little toys. We also bought some mattresses for the nursery kids, who often need to take a nap in the late morning, especially when it gets really hot. Until today, they were sleeping on blankets on the floor. Another van is on its way to Oaklands today with a similar consignment.

You can still donate to this appeal here.

A good friend of Kipawa, Dave Shepherd, very sadly died last year and his family was keen that donations made in his memory were used to fund some sporting activities. Some of the money they donated was spent today on footballs for some budding Kenyan football stars of the future.

The afternoon was spent mostly with our partner organisation in Kenya, the Macheo Foundation. I met with Marnix, its Director, and others in the team to talk through the past couple of days, the general performance of the programmes over the past year, and our plans for 2018. This included:

Discussing activities by the new Monitoring & Evaluation team with James & Humphrey – they showed how the AKIDA referral system used by social workers in the field, linking with Business Intelligence software at the office, is being developed to identify need across several themes, assisting with budget projections and helping to demonstrate actual impact for the monies spent. This is a work in progress but we should see some outputs from that work by January.
A good chat with the new Communications lead, Branice – we spoke about Kipawa’s desire to get more frequent updates from the projects we support in Ruiru. We want to see more regular feedback about the people we are helping and their communities, and how our funding is making a long-term difference. Our donors and supporters can expect to see more of this kind of material in the coming months.
And some time with Julie, who leads the Finance team – on behalf of Kipawa and our donors, I did a mini-audit of the accounts process and systems used by Macheo for its administration of the near £40,000 they spend on our behalf in Ruiru. We spoke about the work they’re doing on unit costs, on accounting for indirect back-office costs (currently less than 5%) and how they’re developing projections for 2018. And she was more than happy to show off her new hairstyle purely to make me jealous…

As he dropped me off in Nairobi tonight, Marnix made a few comments to camera about the relationship between Kipawa and Macheo and the goodwork being done (sorry the video's a wee bit dark).

Finally, on the way back to Nairobi today we went to see a young man called Idris, whom some of our trustees have known for nearly 10 years now. Then, he was a 3 year old living in a child rescue centre, left there by his mother who couldn't cope with his special needs - both physical and learning disabilities. He also had epilepsy and needed 24 hour supervision, with no serious effort being made to support his development.

When that rescue centre closed, Macheo took him in and have worked hard on a series of interventions. He got physiotherapy to help with mobility, medication to reduce the seizures and help on daily living tasks like washing, dressing and toilet use. Importantly, they also forged a reconnection with his mother, whom he now sees three or four times a year.

With financial support provided by some of our trustees, Idris is now attending a specialist boarding school half an hour away from Macheo with other kids of his age and with similar needs. And he's doing well - running around, able to use his hands properly, engaged, saying a few words, and with very few seizures. He remains the smiley, happy boy he was all those years ago - but one with a brighter future ahead.

A lovely way to finish the trip."

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Important Information for Regular Donors to Kipawa

21/2/2017

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***IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR REGULAR DONORS TO KIPAWA ***

If you are a Kipawa donor who gives a regular donation through Virgin Money Giving, you should have had an email recently advising that you need to re-register your donation because VMG is updating its systems.

This email is genuine and if you do not set up a new regular donation, your donations to Kipawa will stop. Regular donations are vitally important to our ability to plan our work and make ongoing commitments to the people we work with in Kenya.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you need any more information or help with the process, please call Virgin Money Giving on 03456 09 10 46, or email theteam@virginmoneygiving.com

You can re-register your donation here.

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We're going to Kenya!

19/5/2016

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Each year, one of the Kipawa trustees visits Ruiru to see, first hand, all the fantastic projects funded by Kipawa supporters. This year, in June, Kieran (our chairman) and Paddy (his brother) are making the trip to Kenya.

As always when our trustees head over to Kenya, they will be covering all their own costs for the trip but they would like to be able to take some gifts with them when they visit. In the past we have given sports equipment, toys and games, clothes and text books.

The gifts are bought in Kenya, where your donations will go a lot further and will support the local ecomony - as well as avoiding the excess luggage charges! Please give if you can.

Give a gift to the children of Ruiru here!

We will, of course, keep you up to date with Kieran and Paddy's visit and report back when they come home on everything that they have discovered on the trip.

Thank you in advance!

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Kipawa Annual Report 2015

15/4/2016

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Kipawa had another very successful year in 2015, the year we celebrated our 5th birthday. Thanks to generous donors and fabulous fundraisers, we raised more money than in any previous year enabling us to help even more vulnerable children and families in Ruiru, Kenya. THANK YOU!

Kipawa's latest annual report and accounts for 2015 are now available here. The report isn't just dry pages of numbers - we promise! - but includes an interesting write-up of our trustee Alasdair's visit to Kenya last year and some great pictures. So it's definitely worth a click!

You can also read some of our plans for 2016 - including the very exciting news that Kipawa will be helping a second primary school in Ruiru from this year!

A limited number of hard copies are available by contacting us.

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Invitation to join Kipawa trustees for lunch - Saturday 9th April 2016, 11.30am, Edinburgh

2/3/2016

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The Kipawa AGM will take place on Saturday 9th April and the trustees would like to invite all donors, supporters, fundraisers and interested friends to come along to Pollock Pavillion in Edinburgh at 11.30am, after the AGM to hear all about Kipawa's work in Ruiru in 2015 and our plans for 2016.

There will be a short presentation followed by an informal lunch which will give you the chance to chat to the trustees and other supporters about any aspect of our work in Kenya or our fundraising at home.

The trustees will be happy to answer any questions you have about where donors' money is spent or about how you could get involved. They will also be delighted to hear any ideas you have.

Bring the whole family!

We understand that childcare can sometimes be a challenge at the weekend, so we will also provide a supervised children's room and some toys to keep any children busy during the presentation! Children will be very welcome to stay for lunch.

Please RSVP!

To give us an idea of numbers who will be attending (for catering purposes) please RSVP here to let us know if you will be coming, by Sunday 13th March. Please bring any interested family and friends.

The trustees look forward to meeting as many of you as possible on 9th April

The map below shows how to find Pollock Pavillion.

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Christmas Kickstarter Appeal Update

3/12/2015

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Thanks to your very generous donations, we have already raised nearly 40% of our Christmas Appeal fundraising target! We are very grateful, but there's still a way to go.

This year we are raising money to open a Kickstarter class in Mukuyu School. A kickstarter class is designed to help reintegrate kids that have missed large parts of their schooling back into the school environment. These are often the children who are least well off in the community and they will benefit from a smaller class size, focussed intervention and dedicated social worker support. Once they are ready, the children will helped to rejoin their peer group in regular classes.

We need to raise at least £2,500 to get this idea off the ground. Please help these vulnerable children to Kickstart their education.

You can donate either by visiting our Virgin Money Giving page here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/KipawaChristmasKickstarter, or by transferring funds directly to Kipawa's bank account. Details are as follows:
Barclays Bank
Sort Code: 20-29-23
Account Number: 3368750
Please mention “Christmas Kickstarter Appeal” in the reference.

Please share this post or our Facebook page with your friends. Thank you once again for your support.

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Mukuyu School nursery class

13/9/2015

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Kipawa has paid to refurbish a nursery classroom at Mukuyu School and now funds the employment of an additional nursery teacher, Joyce. The nursery class is by far the best equipped and most attractive room in the school, thanks to the generosity of Kipawa donors.

The number of children attending the nursery class has doubled thanks to the smart new classroom and extra staffing.

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Donor surprise!

Goodbye to Kenya for another year...

Important Information for Regular Donors to Kipawa

We're going to Kenya!

Kipawa Annual Report 2015

Invitation to join Kipawa trustees for lunch - Saturday 9th April 2016, 11.30am, Edinburgh

Christmas Kickstarter Appeal Update

Mukuyu School nursery class

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